Forged in Fire

Fun Notes

Originally, the manuscript was titled Zane's War and both the contests it finaled in were under this title.

Back in mid February of 2010, I discovered J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, and spent the next ten days totally immersed in the BDB world. I don't think I slept more than a couple of hours a night and my dreams were filled with Wrath, Rhage, V, Z, Butch and Phury. Even after I finished the books, I kept thinking about them. And then one night I had a very different dream. I actually dreamed the entire opening sequence of Forged in Fire. When I awoke, the scene was so clear in my head, I had to get it down. I guess you could say I was driven. I abandoned the project I was revising at the time, and started working on Zane. I've always felt the Black Dagger Warriors inspired Zane and his warrior brethren.

Up until Forged in Fire, I had been a plotter. Zane's book was pantzed every step of the way. I had no idea what was going to happen from chapter to chapter. And I hated it.

Every single hero and secondary hero in the Forged Series are a tribute to my favorite author. Zane, Cosky, Rawls, Mac and Chastain, were all named (either first or last) after the heroes in various books by my favorite author. So far nobody has picked up on that fact!